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30, 000 ultra-orthodox Israeli women in Israel cover their whole body and face. According to Wikipedia the sect is called “Haredi burka sect” or “Taliban mothers”. Many of these families dress their young girls of all ages with the same full dress garb, except for the face veil.

What is up Canada? Does Stephen Harper really care about Canadian values and women’s rights in Canada and around the world? I would say no. Since he said to Canadians in 2006, “You won’t recognize Canada when I’m through with it” he has done everything to take back the rights of all Canadians including the rights regarding freedom of speech and expression, freedom to dissent and freedom to strike for fair treatment in the work place and done nothing to stop the offensive way ultra-orthodox Jewish males treat their women in Canada; nor has he voiced his disapproval to the Israeli government for allowing the same practices to flourish in their country that he has states cannot be tolerated in Canada by some Muslims.

Since Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada won the last federal election and gained a majority status in the House of Commons and then used their win to further give them the majority in the senate, I really understood what the old adage means that says, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’.

The Harper government could have done such great things for Canada and Canadians with control of the House of Commons and in every sitting committee in both chambers, because everything they wished to accomplish could not be stopped by virtue of their voting majority status in all places. Instead what I have seen is arrogance, a refusal to even consider amendments to bills put forward by the opposition parties, independent experts in their fields, scholars, or the oversight agencies like the auditor general’s office, elections Canada, parliamentary budget office, privacy commission and the Supreme Court of Canada, preferring to get rid of the heads of those agencies when they voice objections to their purposed actions where possible, try to intimidate and ruin the reputations and erode the power of those officers they can not fire.

The Harper government feels that its majority status puts them above the law and refuses to follow any law that it feels should not apply to them be it election laws on spending practices, transparency, security, or anything else, preferring instead to do what it wants in creating laws that favor its position and enjoying the temporary power of forcing the bill into law knowing that it will not withstand a court challenge and be struck down in the future by the federal court, or the Supreme court of Canada. This blatant disregard for the law has seen the party as a whole, it MPs and senators facing scandal after scandal.

The worst thing though is that in an effort to raise itself above the law this government has taken wedge politics and fear mongering to the worst level it has ever been in the history of Canada. Stephen Harper has taken a real concern for terrorism and a need to do something about it and turned it into his cash cow. Failing in all ways as a government Stephen Harper has decided to play the race card and divide this country into and us against them scenario; the us being as he sees it, those who wish to blame Muslims for everything that is going wrong in this country security wise and them as he sees it, those Muslims who refuse to give up their culture and religious rights, especially those females who refuse to stop wearing their offensive religious headwear at official Canadian ceremonial functions.

I find it revealing that Stephen said in response to a comment made by Justin Trudeau in the house of commons that covering one’s face with a niqab is, “Rooted in a culture that is anti-women.” Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada have decided that challenging the Federal Court of Canada’s ruling overturning his law that sought to limit where and when the head coverings that some devout Muslim women choose to wear as a sign of the respect for their God is so insulting to Canadian values and freedoms that it must be challenged. I find it interesting that the is trying to say that it is giving the oppressed Muslim women her right and freedom to choose what she wants to wear and when by taking away their freedom to choose what they are permitted to wear while taking the oath of Canadian citizenship. Stephen Harper claims that devout Muslims are not respecting of women’s rights and Canadian values because:

Women are forced to wear a head covering that has only slits for the eyes to be seen.

Females are only educated in the very basics, if allowed to be educated at all.

Women are subordinate to their husbands.

Women are forced to endure prearranged forced marriages.

Yet when it comes to the treatment of the Hasidic female Jew by the males in her community Stephen Harper must think that the things I have listed below on a short list are aligned and in keeping with what are to him and his party’s position concerning women’s rights and freedoms The fact is that there are no laws being made to bring any of the offensive, archaic, non Canadian treatment of Hasidic women listed below to an end. Why does Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada support as a religious right that:

The Hasidic female Jew will never be allowed to wear pants, because that is consider the clothing of men.

The Hasidic female Jew will be forced to hide her hair under a scarf, hat or wig and in some of the worst cases being forced to shave it totally, once she is married.

While Hasidic men, noted for their curled side locks, dress in black suits and formal black hats, and Hasidic women wear black head scarves, black skirts, black stockings and black shawls over white and grey tops, in Israel the women of Lev Tahor are dressed totally in black, including their faces.

When there’s a question about a married Hasidic women’s menstrual period, the wife is forced to put her blood stained underwear in a zip-lock bag for her husband to take to the synagogue where he pushes it into a special window for the rabbi to look at it. The Rabi after inspecting the blood stained underwear will pronounce it kosher or non kosher?

The Hasidic female Jew will often be forced to work to support the family, take care of the children, do all household chores, without help, because their men are too busy studying religion to work.

The Hasidic female will be considered as unclean for 2 weeks of every month of her life as long as she lives ( that equals approximately 50% of her life); considered not clean enough to pass your husband a glass even if their hands do not touch?

Great emphasis is placed on male education in Hasidism, while women and girls are never expected to move past a basic literacy in daily/holiday prayers.

I wonder if Stephen Harper knows that the practice of covering ones face that he says, is rooted in a culture that is anti-women” is practiced in Israel by about 30,000 Israeli ultra-orthodox women and as such he is saying that the Jewish religion and it’s practices are rooted in a culture that is anti-women as well. If as he and his MPs keep insisting that Muslims that carry out these types of practices should not be tolerated in Canada, or in any other civilised country in the world then he in my opinion has no choice but to condemn Israel for allowing these practices and do all in his power to force Israel to put an end to such practices within its borders and the practices of the orthodox Jews and in Canada the way that Jewish orthodox and ultra orthodox females are treated should me made against the law. Not an easy thing to say, or followup do to a country and a people you have publicly sworn to support, ‘Unconditionally’, but something that needs to be done if Prime Minister Harper’s words and concern for what he calls practices rooted in a culture that is anti-women is sincere and not more of his fear mongering, divisive rhetoric.

Personally I think that Stephen Harper does not give a damn about either of the groups and sees them both as a means to a political end that he means to exploit like he does everything else. Stephen Harper will continue to pit Canadians one against another exploiting their deep-rooted fears, prejudices and even hatreds until it is no longer politically profitable. In my opinion Stephen Harper does not give a damn what anyone wears on his or her head, or where and when they wear it. I believe what he cares about and lusts after is power and the right to rule without interference and the Muslim people of Canada and around the world, just happen to be pawns to be sacrificed in his game of chess, as were the First Nations, gays and lesbians, separatists of Quebec, all who he purported to support in the past to win elections with their voting blocks and threw under the bus when their cause became to problematic to support openly, or the photo opts were not worth the effort and quite simply put, of no further use to him politically.

We elected a prime minister who behaves more like the fawning sycophant Chester than like the prime minister of an independent government of a sovereign nation.

What is up Canada? Stephen Harper promised Canadians that he would change Canada so much that Canadians would no longer be able to recognise their own country and I think that he unfortunately delivered on it. I think that Stephen Harper is and never was a proud Canadian, had no respect for Canadian law, or Canadian core values. I do not think any Canadian old enough to vote can say that this is the same Canada that Canadians and all nations of the world used to admire, trust and even envy. Written in this post are some of what I believe we used to be and how we were thought of, but now have lost due to the changes to the very core of what it was to be a Canadian. Canada used to be one of the only trusted players in the game of international affairs and we blew it, because Canada’s Chester (Stephen Harper), who shortly after being elected with a majority government, began surrendering our sovereignty to his hero the USA; because the USA was so big and strong.

Thanks to Stephen Harper, Canada can no longer lay claim to being a fair-minded and neutral seeker of peaceful solutions; a supporter of only solutions that are arrived at via the negotiation table with all stake holders present and participating, because Canada in my opinion is no longer neutral, or fair-minded.

Under the absolute rule of Stephen Harper Canadians will no longer going to be allowed to think, or speak any sentiments that are not in keeping with the governments point of view on the internet, especially where those views are contrary to what the government feels about Israel, or Christianity.

The new law fails to address the hateful views being espoused about Muslims and their faith, allowing them to be fair game. I believe that the law in spite Harper will protect Muslims if things get too far out of hand, but Stephen Harper has ensured with his laws that they will be forced to just understand that: (a) It is members of their faith that are the terrorists. (b) That is just too hard to distinguish between the good Muslims and the bad Muslims, since the good Muslims refuse to cast of their religious garb. (c)They will of course be expected to be patient and understanding while the government stops them from traveling. (d) That it is they who the government will be targeting with their online and digital snooping laws. (e)Finally it is Muslims that will be asked to understand and be patient while they are insulted on the street, attacked on public transit and go through all manner of racial denigration., because this government has decided to make every person with or without mental issues, committing a violent acts against private citizens, security force members, or politician a radicalized Canadian in the service of an either ISIS or another group it considers to be terrorists.

Under the governance of Stephen Harper Canada has unfortunately made it clear through his government’s rhetoric, policies, laws and actions that Canada is no longer interested in continuing in its historically respected role as a peace broker, but has surrendered to the will of it allies to commit itself to the war against terrorism through the taking military actions on the behalf of those countries it supports, or sees as being important to itself and it allies strategically, or economically. Canada has joined its allies who decided long ago that the way to settle international disputes is not at the negotiating table, but instead preferring to use sanctions, embargoes and a show of military force instead. Embargoes and sanctions serve no other purpose then to achieve through a siege, one-sided unfair agreements that cannot be achieved through what used to be normal diplomatic channels. As a nation through this government, we have chosen to ignore the suffering that is caused to the innocent people of the countries we are helping to put under siege and spout rhetoric to all who will listen about the importance of saving innocent lives unable to share in our values, preaching about the importance of bringing our beliefs and values to the non civilised world; in short what we are saying is that we have found some new savages to civilize, through rape and pillage and total assimilation to our way of life. Our government knows that a siege is designed to deprive a nation of their ability to provide for its people the amenities of life needed for every day survival(food, medicine and other supplies) until the leader of the country under siege surrenders; but Canada does it anyway. I cannot see how anyone would not see a siege for what it is which is a deliberate attempt to sabotage a country’s economy, undermine its legitimate government and strip it of its sovereignty, under the guise of negotiations aimed at achieving a fair outcome for both sides of the dispute. How can Canada still lay claim to always seeking peaceful non violent solutions to problems when the first thing we do now under Harper rule is close down embassies in our country and abroad every time a tough dispute arises between a country will value as an ally, or asset with one we feel we do not have a lot or anything in common with?

Canada once considered country who had a conscience and a set of values of its own under the rule of Stephen Harper looks more like a cowardly bully, who will only stand up for what it believes in if the enemy is weaker militarily than it is, or if allies suggest it contribute to the struggle. Stephen Harper is quick to send Canadian military advisors, Canadian fighter jets to kill people with missiles and bombs into countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but like its allies are afraid to act with its military might in situations like: (a)The Ukraine vs. Russia conflict where Russia actually annexed Crimea a part of the sovereign Ukraine and is supporting financially and militarily the dismantling of Ukraine’s sovereignty as a nation by pro-Russian rebels. (b) The Hong Kong vs. China conflict where the free will of the people to vote in fair democratic elections is being denied them by the government of Hong Kong with the support of main land China and has the possibility of escalating into another Tiananmen Square. (c) No military intervention to end once and for all the constant instability in the world that the North Korea vs. South Korea conflict is causing. North Korea has actually threatened the USA and its allies and yet they have not been labeled terrorists as far as I know and the western alliance of which Canada is a member refuses to take action against it militarily.

It would seem that the only countries the Western Alliance is interested in fighting is those with a predominantly Muslim population; followers of the Islamic faith and that makes us now not only cowards something we could never be accused of before, but racist in our reasoning as well.

As I said earlier when I think of Canada and its relationship with the USA I am reminded of the relationship between Looney Tune’s cartoon characters “Spike and Chester”. In this cartoon a little dog named Chester would scamper around a big bulldog named Spike saying, “Can we Spike, huh, can we?” Spike would end up back handing little Chester, sending him reeling backwards. getting up visibly shaken Chester would say,” Spike is my hero, because he is so big and strong. “

Canada under the leadership of Stephen Harper has become a country only willing to stand up for human rights and freedoms abroad where it can be assured victory with little cost and where there is some economical or strategic benefit and only if instructed to do so by its allies.

Canada used to be the envy of the world for the rights and freedoms that all Canadians used to enjoy, respected for our values and sense of justice and loved for our generosity and compassion, but I believe that thanks to Stephen Harper, that all of those things are no longer true when talking of Canada.

Under the leadership of Stephen Harper the very fabric of this countries democracy and democratic processes have been made a mockery of and changed, in order to (a) enacting laws that removed any oversight that was put in place as a mechanism to ensure that the government’s executive powers did not overstep their bounds. (b)changing the way one can prove their eligibility to vote in federal elections in a deliberate move to impede the ability of all Canadians eligible to vote to do so. (c) through what it calls its Fair Elections Act, remove any power the head of Elections Canada had to ensure that the government held fair elections and adhered to the rules, or was punished.

Stephen Harper only protects Christians and Jewish people in his laws against hate as is proven in legislation that he and his government draft and the speeches given by his MP’s and ministers when talking about new legislation to prevent the ability of those on the internet from inciting hatred for Israel, Jews and Christians going as far as to seek arrest and prosecution for those actions, but no mention of penalties for inciting Islamophobia, or the hatred of any other culture, religion or ethnicity, for example. This is not this simply an oversight, this is in my opinion is intentional racism and what would never have happened pre Stephen Harper. When government made laws in the past concerning racism and hate crimes, it did not single out specific groups for special protection we included all groups in the umbrella of the protection.

We used to be compassionate as a nation helping those in distress from natural disasters and welcoming of refugees fleeing certain death in their own countries, but of late under the harper government is to discourage refugees from fleeing here and have put in place laws to imprison them should they arrive by sea. (This is a direct attack on fleeing Muslims as it is they in reason times who have been using this mode of transportation and it is they who this law was designed and implemented to deter). If this is not bad enough Stephen Harper and his government are putting forward a law that would permit the provinces to deny refugees Welfare. How they are supposed to survive while they learn the language and get accustomed to where they now live is beyond me and seems rather mean-spirited at the least and not at all in keeping with our historical compassion and generosity.

It was interesting to see public Safety Minister, Steven Blaney, pretend that we all misunderstood him when he accused the Ottawa shooter of being a terrorist in league with ISIS, telling a reporter asking him why he called the shooter a terrorist, to look up the meaning of terrorist in the dictionary. This is why I do not trust this government, but more importantly why I believe that this government has betrayed all Canadians and turned away from our core values and turned us into some kind of hateful Nazi like puppets. I know, how dare I say such a thing, but remember very soon in Canada I could be arrested for terrorism, being a terrorist sympathizer, found guilty without my accusers evidence going before a judge, tried in secret and sentenced to jail, by the government and its security agencies for daring to post this on the internet. The Nazis of Germany used the same tactics against the European Jews and look what happened when the people believed in the rhetoric and allowed the fear mongering of politicians make the accomplices in the deaths of over 6 million innocent Jewish men, women and children. Dare we compare us to them?

The government has decided to blame everything wrong with this country on radical Islamic thoughts and deeds whether they are born of real radicalization, or of some Canadian so displeased and feeling so trapped with no way out decided to act out violently against the government, or commit suicide in an effort to vent their anger and draw attention to a series of problems that they feel are being ignored and is hurting all Canadians.

The government is asking children to spy on their parents and their parents to spy on them as well as asking neighbor to spy on neighbor and then report anything they find to be suspicious activity to security officials. This all to me sounds more like Nazi Germany, then the Canada that I grew up in.

The government is asking that their special police,(CSIS and the RCMP) be able to arrest and detain certain citizens based on suspicion of doing something wrong, or on a hunch that they intend to doing something wrong, without having the required proof to lay charges.

The government wants informants of CSIS never to enter a court room, or go before a judge to validate their accusations and so the accused does not get to face their accuser and could possibly end up deported, in jail, only to find out that the person doing the snitching had a grudge against the accused, or was coerced in some manner by the security agencies to give false evidence, was offered a deal by the government to collaborate evidence to get rid of a potentially aggravating, or embarrassing problem that a government would like to go away.

The government has decided to turn husband against wife and wife against husband, by forcing them to testify against one another with no regard for the impact this will have on marriages and relationships in Canada.

The government has decided to cease passports based on hunches rather than proof that would stand up in a court of law.

The government has decided to restrict the travel of Canadian citizens that it deems to be too dangerous to travel, without proof enough to lay charges that would stand up in a court of law.

The government has stated that it will punish radicalized Canadians who are going abroad to fight on the behalf of others, such as what the government considers radical Islamic extremists or terrorists with jail time, possibly loss of citizenship and deportation, but does this apply to Canadian Jews who could be considered radicalized in some cases going abroad to fight for Israel in the Israeli army, or raising money to aid and abet anti Islamic thoughts of hatred, calling for the death of all Muslims, or is this law focussed solely on Muslims and those who would fight in their behalf. I remember Canadian Greeks going back to Greece to fight against the Turks, in today’s Canada would those Greeks be considered radicalized and punished?

In my opinion to get around all of this action it has already been caught doing illegally, this government has decided to do what it does anytime it is doing something illegal and unconstitutional; this government changes the law to support their position without benefit of meaningful debate, or consideration of it constitutionality so that innocent people are caught up in the political and judicial war, having their lives torn apart for years, only to be proven innocent, but with no way to seek legal remedy, or compensation, for all that was taken from them by the government.

There was a time not so long ago before Stephen Harper and his strong, stable, majority Conservative government came to power that:

Canadians could travel the world without fear of being attacked by anyone, because Canadians were loved and respected.

Canada never had to worry about home-grown terrorists, or terrorists attacks from abroad, because Canada did not commit terrorist attacks in other countries prior to Stephen Harper.

Prior to Stephen Harper Canada donated its foreign aid with no strings attached. instead of only offering aid to those who can repay in some fashion, like trade deals, giving up their water rights or rights to other natural resources, like is the policy now. Canada used to welcome refugees instead locking them up in jail. In short Canada used to be to valuable as a friend to ever consider making an enemy of.

Prior to Stephen Harper things like health care, homelessness and other domestic concerns relating to poverty took priority over balancing budget and although things were not perfect Canadians thought that they were being not only heard but that their basic needs were being met and when they were not that when they voiced their discontent that they were not ignored and their needs became the governments priority.

Prior to Stephen Harper killing one’s own soldiers, or taking up arms against one’s own country was considered treason, not terrorism.

I do not know if going back to our old Canada is a possibility anymore, but I think that we have got to try, because it some ways we were the sanity in all of the chaos; the light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of countries facing seemingly insurmountable problems. I think that Canada used to be one of the only trusted players in the game of international affairs and we blew it, because we elected a prime minister Spike’s, Chester, who surrender our sovereignty to his hero, because he was so big and strong and has been getting slapped by Spike ever since. If there is to be any consolation it is that Chester one day does become the hero when Spike is proven to be not so brave, but merely an untested, untried bully.

Canada and Canadians unhealthy preoccupation with saving Canada for real Canadians and Quebec for the Francophone, in my opinion is hurting Canada, in every way possible and ruining Canada’s reputation as a defender and steward of democracy, a follower of international law as it pertains to human rights and diminishing its ability to help negotiate peace and human rights throughout the world. We have convinced ourselves that ethnic cleansing needs to see the death of those being removed or denied access to our country on our soil and what happens to them after deportation, or because of refusal to enter our country is not our problem and that in my opinion is a wrong thought and an equally bad immigration policy. Our leadership has become inhumane and a lot less human, reflecting the characteristics of a machine, a calculator to be exact, unable to feel any emotion and unable to comprehend anything that does not have to do with capital gain, or economic success. To understand this one only has to look at what is driving this government and the direction the leaders of this country are leading this country in terms of, democratic process, foreign aid, immigration policy, religious rights and freedoms and language rights to name just a few. What were once considered basic undeniable rights for Canada and the corner stones of what it is was to be a Canadian has been watered down to not that important and unsustainable, or economically bad for the country. We were in trouble the minute the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was called not that important a document by Prime Minister Steven Harper.

Every once in a while I like to take a look at what I feel is driving the governments of the day across Canada. What is the thing that both the provinces and the federal government and the majority and the minorities of voters seem to think is important. I find the thing that seems on everyone’s mind at the same time is holding on to ones way of life, one’s ethnicity, one’s culture, one’s religion, one’s heritage. All across Canada this debate rages on in one form or another, but it always boils down to the same thing everyone trying to ensure that they are either not so assimilated that they lose their heritage and those who are the majority see their heritage be swept away in the flood of new immigrants, bringing their customs, religions, culture and heritage in such great numbers as to alter the face of Canadian culture forever and in essence erase all that they think that makes them who they are from existence.

I have traveled this country in a moving truck from coast to coast to coast and I am reminded of the bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah, when Abraham asked the 3 angels sent by God to destroy the cities because of their evil ways to spear the city in the end if they could find 10 righteous people living there, but finding not even ten righteous people destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and everyone in it. It is the racist, prejudice intolerant behaviour that I witnessed in just about every province of this country that shocked me in those days. All you had to do was go to the bathroom that once had graffiti talking about girls and phone numbers and pictures of sexual acts drawn on the walls, now changed to swastikas, rag heads go home and other nasty racist remarks. English against French, everyone against Muslims and anti-Semitic trash all depending on what province you are in, or passing through.

As laws start to pop up in every province and our Prime Minister goes public talking about Canada for real Canadians and saving the European flavour of our heritage and culture it is easy to understand how people can be drawn back in to a time when it was acceptable to use racial slurs, blame immigrants for everything bad that is going on in our country from the failing economy, the lack of work and for a in grown terrorist threat in the making; in fact blaming the new guy for the very instability of this nation brought on by the very governments that the majority of real Canadians voted into power in the provinces as well as federally.

It is this unhealthy preoccupation with saving Canada for the real Canadians and Quebec for the Francophone that has the people of this country afraid every time a Sikh Temple, or a Muslim Mosque is erected in their communities. It is this unhealthy preoccupation with saving Canada for real Canadians and Quebec for the Francophone that has the people of this country desecrating Jewish grave stones and vandalising Synagogues. It is what has the people of this country ready to accept laws that would seek to disallow the wearing of religious symbols, scarves, hats of any kind in schools and government work places. It is this preoccupation with keeping Canada for the real Canadians and Quebec for the francophone that has this country saying that freedom of religion is only a right in Canada as long as it does not overtake the popularity of our heritage, that being Christianity. This is the reality of religious freedom as a right in Canada.

To be a real Canadian is to be of European heritage according to the Prime Minister of Canada, everyone one else born here, or just immigrated to this country are Canadians, but just not the real Canadians he is working so hard to save their heritage, their way of life and culture for them, with all of the new immigration laws. It is as if he thinks that by stemming the flow of ethnic minorities he can somehow stop the contamination of the European culture, religion and values so that in time we are not left with some hybrid European culture that in no way resembles the European culture, or the heritage of our past.

In Quebec they are so afraid that their language can not stand up to the test of time that they have done little else but wage war over it. They too feel that by forcing the population to speak French that it will somehow convert people into speaking French when they do not have to; I think that it is having the reverse affect and English have simply learned to speak it out of necessity, but are so turned off at the way they were forced to do it that they refuse to speak it when given the choice, but all of these things speak to racism, prejudice, violation of basic human rights and make us a lesser people and a lesser nation and one of the biggest phonies and hypocritical nations out there every time we open our mouths and talk about equality and equal rights for all people in every country, city and town.

The make up of a country is forever changing and it has been this way for all time. I think to seek to stop the inevitable is foolhardy at best and the strategy and the laws necessary to implement this type of policy requires the cold-hearted, single-mindedness willing to do whatever it takes to realise the ethnic cleansing, such as that of a Hitler, a Slobodan Milosevic, a Muammar al-Gaddafi, or a Saddam Hussein. Is this truly who we as a country and as people are seeking to be like; is this how we want to be seen? Is our politically correct version of ethnic cleansing to become our way? I have looked in all provinces in Canada and if the angels who visited Abraham were to say they came to destroy this country, because in all the country there was not one righteous province to be found, never mine ten righteous ones; I would have to agree with them. I think that Canada has been visited and it is being destroyed and there is little we can do about it, because we choose not to change as did the people and the leaders in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Life is like a mirror reflecting your feelings, your actions and your thoughts. The idea is that everything you experience in life is a reflection of yourself. Keeping this in mind what do you see when you look in life’s mirror?

What can you say about a people who went from continent to continent and country to country claiming the lands for themselves, ignoring the fact that the land was already inhabited? What can you say about a people who would try to erase the memory of a whole nation of people from existence; religion, language and anything that made them individuals and a people? What can you say about a people who wrapped all of this up in religion and said not that the devil made them do it, but that they were acting in the name of their God? What can you say about a people who created laws to justify what they had done as okay in the name of their God and legalized the whole sordid affair by forcing the original inhabitants of this land to sign treaties and agreements saying they agreed that all was done in the best interest of both people in order to form one country for both people? What can we say about a people who have never lived up to one treaty or kept one agreement that they forced the indigenes people to sign, through coercion and the threat of extinction? We can say that they are our parents, our forefathers to whom we should be grateful for our very existence as a country and so proud of them are we their children, the fruit of their loins and we their prodigy have taken up their cause and maintained their Godly quest. We have decided to do them one better and retrace their steps retaking lands that were lost and vanquishing the people who one defeated them in the past. We can say that nothing has changed, we never forgot what we were taught and that is that history is written by the winner and if the winner is smart they will leave none of the history of the loser left, so that time and history starts and ends with the winner.

We are not children anymore, there are no fledgling nations anymore. We have grown into men and women and what we have stolen from others is still ours. We are not a peaceful people and we never were and as such we still thirst for the sense of conquest that is and always have been our greatest motivator and the taste of blood of the vanquished like a sweet wine to our lips. no matter what face we put forth, no matter what religious banner we are flying, we do not seek fair trade, or a peaceful coexistence, because we have the blood of warriors and conquers flowing through our veins. We want what all conquers want and that is the spoils of war and a subservient class of people to do the work for us, because we do not come as diplomats ready to negotiate in good faith. We are warriors, colonizers, and empire builders always needing more, always needing to conquer, always needing to be superior, always needing to be the only one. To this end we have shed off all pretence at working for peace, working for equality for all and are now ready to once again cross the oceans and finish what we started. We are ready now to unite the world under one God and one ideology. We are ready to carve out new territories, rewrite histories. It has been so long since we admitted who we really are out loud that we can hardly believe that it is us talking, but there it is we have admitted it to the world that we as a nation and as a people, are no longer interested in being peace keepers, we want to be warriors and revisit our time of glory. To this end we have begun to acquire the weapons of war needed to make the changes complete. We have allied ourselves once again with old friends who feel how we feel, believe in the same God as we do and together we will be victorious. We will make you proud ancestors and reclaim our old glory and when the borders of this world begin to close in on us like that of our countries in the past, we have already discovered a new sea to cross called space. This space is called a universe and has lots of planets, making for a lot of new lands to colonize and a new history to write, because there is no history but ours, there is no religion but ours, because our God says so and we know that no matter who or what inhabits those planets we will win, they will fall, they will forever be absorbed, because that is our way, that is our nature and that is our God’s will.

So who are we you ask, like you do not know while standing in front of a mirror looking at your own reflection? We are everyone who picks up a gun and kills instead of talking things out. We are everyone that seeks to colonize and subjugate the indigenise people of the world. We are everyone the choses to expand our territories at the expense of others. We are everyone who believes that their God is the only true God and that it is our duty to bring that God to everyone in the world and make them accepting of said God by any means necessary. We are everyone who can’t admit we were wrong and still are. We are by virtue of everything mentioned above; we those people incapable of changing how we do things, how we think and how we interact with others, which makes us the most selfish people of the world, but the real question is who do you see when you look in life’s mirror and did you by chance think that I was talking about you, your beliefs or that of your country’s?

I think that it is clear what and how I feel about how we as a country came to be and pretty much where I think we are today as a people and as a country and it is not a pretty picture, but it is only fair to say that we are not alone. Now some people and governments may find comfort in that, or even a sense of vindication, but they should not, because wrong is wrong no matter how many people chose, or choose to do the wrong thing. Some people have said in comments that every country had a beginning similar to ours, like it was some kind of unfortunate, but necessary happenstance, an unfortunate but acceptable turn of events, if we were to bring the true God to the world and along with it progress, saving the world from itself and eternal damnation; in short the ends justified the means. All of this justification of colonization and our sudden shifts in governmental policy got me to thinking what exactly that implied and to take a look and see how that reflects on how we treat people at home as well as internationally. Some people would say that we have one of the best records for equal rights and democracy in the world, but what does that mean if the democratic world is moving more and more towards violence instead of diplomacy, intolerance instead of tolerance and divisiveness instead of inclusion? Once the bar is dropped on these basic fundamentals of human rights, being one of the best means very little, in my opinion.

I am not going to rehash the way I feel about the government not living up to our treaties and agreements, because I think that everyone in our country knows the truth and can see with protests going on by student groups and indigenise peoples. The right to collective bargaining being withdrawn by government with workers in legal strike positions being forced back to work by government legislation rather than reaching an agreement through negotiation. That the pressure in the country on every level is so great that either it is released or this country will erupt in a great explosion of civil disobedience the like of which we have never experienced before. A sense of mistrust for each other and everyone else hangs over this country and it seems we have entered an era of great discontent and we are not a happy people. I do however feel that how you begin your life as a nation, who your founding fathers were and how much influence they had and continue to have on the way laws are made, how equality is thought of and maintained and finally how we treat new comers to our country whether they fled here as refugees, or just chose to immigrate here for other opportunities, such as jobs and lifestyle. I say this because when you break it all down and take away all the rhetoric and political gaming and posturing, this amounts to who you and I really are as people and as a nation and how we are viewed by the outside world as a nation in a community of many nations, that we are a small part of, but must live in and exists in.

Isaac Mayer Wise was the founder of Reform Judaism—the branch practiced by most Jews today. He disparaged Native Americans and Blacks. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise supported slavery and cited the Talmud as his main source.

The Jewish organization B’nai Brith Canada is demanding an apology from a Quebec talk show host who sympathized on the air with anti-Semitic statements.

It would seem that what constitutes freedom of speech in Canada shall once again be determined by what offends our Jewish community. It was disgusting what the woman said on the talk show about Hitler and his lack of success with the Holocaust, but having sais that, why is it that ones personal opinion is not allowed to be voiced when talking about the Holocaust and Israel’s actions in the Middle East. I think Anti Semitism is just as bad, but no worse than any other form of bigotry and should be treated accordingly and not like it is more of an insult than any other. I keep hearing people say that the conversation between Maria and Jacques Fabi on his late night radio talk show, which is aired on 98.5 FM,was not freedom of speech, but rather it was hate conversation and say shame on people like me who do not know the difference between debate, meaningful conversation and hate rhetoric and I say, “Shame on anybody who would try to use the tragedy of the Holocaust to elevate themselves above the law of the land and redefine freedom of speech in such a way that it gives them alone the opportunity to voice their dissent of others actions, religious beliefs and very right to live on the same planet as them, on their radio shows, in their newspapers, on their television programs and in their schools. It is this special treatment the Jewish community demands from every person on this planet as payment, or compensation for their ancestors suffering in the Holocaust that others find annoying and unreasonable. The insistence of Jewish leaders and our political law makers that any negative voicing of a person’s opinion in public of negative Jewish, or Israeli behavior in the Middle East or anywhere else, is no longer to be tolerated and is no longer to be considered within the realm of freedom of speech, but must be considered as anti-Semitism and now violates Canadian law, leaves the rest of Canadians with the impression that our government seeks to protect only the Jewish and seems to trivialize the hardships and past suffering of all of its other citizens. It is from this premise that Slimovitch, the B’nai Brith Canada and the Jewish community demand a public apology from Jacques Fabi on the air. It is from this premise that Slimovitch, the B’nai Brith Canada and the Jewish community feel they have the right to demand that on hearing the first anti-Semitic word that would offend the Jewish community at large, Fabi should have cut her off the air rather than trying to engage her in conversation. I happen to disagree, because as ignorant and vile as the women’s worst comments were, they still amounted to just her opinion, she called for no violence and asked no one to join in any hate campaign against anyone. The caller Marie and Jacques Fabi were talking about a subject sensitive to the Jewish community and was speaking out of anger and frustration, but is their anyone on this planet including our Jewish citizens that is innocent of negatively speaking of another race, religion, or culture in public and in private and do we not claim the right to be heard. I believe that Marie is an example of what happens when a group of people hold themselves and a great tragedy in their history above that of the tragedies that other people’s ancestors have had to endure. What we see and hear in Marie is the frustration, the anger and the annoyance of having to look over one’s shoulder for the Jewish anti-Semitism patrol, before voicing an opinion on the Middle East, or anything else that displeases, or might offend the Jewish community, whether or not it is truth and whether or not you have proof to back up what you are saying.” Why is it at a time in Canadian history when our government seeks to as it calls it preserve our European heritage by forcing everyone to leave the ancestral baggage at the door, (culture, religious practices, religious wear) and anything else that would make them stand out and give them trouble blending in with the rest of Canadians, is the Jewish community allowed to hang on to its baggage, (culture, religious practices, religious wear) and everything else that makes them stand out and gives them trouble blending in with the rest of Canadians?

People say that Canada is doing well by First Nations People and that the poverty that these people now find themselves in is their own fault, because they mismanage the funds allocated to them, this type of lie offends me and them, but there will be no thousands of e-mails sent to anyone on the First Nations behalf and the telephone lines to government officials and media station heads demanding firings and punitive actions for words said, will not happen; so what is it that puts the Holocaust above all other tragedies known to man, or committed against our fellow-man? What sets the Jewish person in a special position to be able to call Anti Semitic and get freedom of speech altered and anything negative said about them considered hate speech? Was the Holocaust really more of a tragedy, atrocity, more of a genocide then the fate that be felled our North American Indians? Were not millions of these people not slaughtered, because others wanted what belonged to them? Were not whole tribes wipe out never to be seen again, made extinct? Does their suffering not continue today? I ask you. where are the phone calls blocking the switchboards for these people? Why is it not illegal to make movies making them the bad guys, the makers of massacres on innocent settlers? Why is this lie okay, but any denial of the Holocaust, or the down playing of it illegal and gets Jewish peoples dander up? I would point out that a lot of the producers of such anti First Nations movies were Jewish, but I have yet to hear one Jewish leader, or even person express sorrow for their part in making money off of one of the greatest acts of genocide in modern times.

Is it because Jews consider themselves the chosen people of the true God, that they feel that they and they alone are above the laws the govern the rest of us ordinary folk? I as a Black man who have had millions of my ancestors thrown overboard in the middle of oceans while being transported against their will into slavery aboard Jewish owned slave ships, sold on Jewish auction blocks and worked to death on Jewish plantations, get offended when Jewish people deny their part in the African slave trade, but nobody has ever been arrested for the denial and nobody has ever said sorry, so what gives? Am I to be expected to down play the African slave trade and the Jewish peoples part in it and does my assertion of the facts publicly make me anti-Semitic? Freedom of speech must mean just that freedom of speech and if we are going to redefine its terms then the new definition must apply to all equally and not to one race, or one religion in a special way that gives them a stronger position then all other races and religions.

Are we so far gone that we would ask a radio host who deals with controversial material on his show to just allow favorable conversation when debating Israel, or other Jewish sensitive subjects. What of the Anti Muslim comments flowing quite freely everyday from the mouths of Jewish people and even our parliamentarians? What about the Brown Faced Video? What happened to that investigation? Who got fired and why was it not considered an outrage, by anyone and merely distasteful? I can tell you why, because as distasteful as it was, as stupid as it was, as racist as it was, it was not directed at Israel, or Jewish people. Black people are called lazy, shiftless and depicted as ignorant and slow-witted in countless movies produced once again by Jewish men, but there is no public outcry to stop the anti-Black propaganda. For the record whose news papers posted those anti Barack Obama racist pictures, depicting him and his wife as chimps, or the Muslim machine gun-toting terrorist? Whose book Is the Talmud which says that God’s punishment to Ham for seeing his father naked and buggering him, turned his skin to black and cursed him to be the servant of the world and beneath all men, thus giving acceptability and divine reason for the lucrative business of buying and selling of human beings as though they were mere cattle? Are these facts that anger the Jewish race to be considered anti-Semitic as well; hate talk and therefore not included in what is considered freedom of speech? If I were having this conversation on the air with Jacques Fabi should he throw me off the air? Should I be arrested and he suspended? What is up Canada?

I guess I am wondering how long are we ordinary people are going to be expected to accept being told what to think, when to say and how to say it, when it comes to sensitive issues concerning Israel and the Jewish community? I guess I am also wondering how long we have to put up with the Jewish population of this country deciding and determining what constitutes freedom of speech? Is there a difference between freedom of speech and hate speech, or is it all just opinion no matter had bad, how distasteful and are we not all entitled to it?

The problem with making special words for special people like the holocaust and anti-Semitism, is that it tends to set one group of people above the other and before you know it, their peoples tragedy becomes more of a tragedy than anyone else’s on the planet and although it is not true in time it becomes the reality we see today that a 4 minute tirade by an ignorant bigot expressing her own opinion on the air of a late night radio show, is enough for the Jewish community to cry Anti Semitism and demand an apology of the host of the show for allowing the obviously racist woman to finish her tirade and daring to agree with some of her calmer non racist comments. I have never heard of the Jewish people here, or in the Middle East apologising for anything they have ever said negatively, or hatefully about anything or apologising for atrocities they have committed in their past, or they are committing today; have you? Are Jewish hands that free of innocent blood? Can they say every drop blood that they have spilled, or have caused to be spilled on their behalf to date, has been with just cause. Are they innocent when it comes to the spreading of, anti people, anti religion rhetoric, or hate speeches against others? I think we know that the answer to all of the above is no, but I think that we know that some Jewish organisation, or readers will probably see this post as anti-Semitic and lobby to have it removed from WordPress, even though there are most likely blogs written by others giving the other side of the issue that they find okay.

Another problem with getting special treatment that you are not entitled to, is that people begin to resent you and find you to be nothing but a spoiled brat incapable of defending yourself against even words. They begin to be annoyed at the sensitivity of your thin skin, so sensitive that the mere words that others have had to endure since the concept of freedom of speech came into play, make you bleed. Maybe it is that some people just get annoyed at having to tip toe around the truth, because you as a people find the truth offensive. Maybe some people are annoyed at hearing that the hardships and sufferings that their ancestors have had to endure while your Jewish ancestors made profit from directly or indirectly can never properly be addressed, because they know you will call foul, anti-Semitic and hate talk. The more that the Jewish community seeks what they will not give in terms of acknowledgment that all genocide is equally bad and that it must not be tolerated by the rest of the world, even if that means Israel must be called to task for it part in the atrocities being committed by them and in their name in the Middle East, then they will as a people always be regarded by some as shallow, self-serving and only out for their own good. Everyone has a right to express themselves and the more the Jewish community makes government progress stifling what others have to say about them the more they will be resented by other Canadians. Is it not bad enough that Israel has by its position has surrounded itself by enemies; is this what the Jewish community wishes to see itself faced with in every community in Canada and around the world?

I think that there is no room for Marie’s tirade and she should learn to speak properly and express her views differently, but I did not find anything offensive in Jacques Fabi expressing how he felt. It was his opinion and I have heard worse said about others on every media everyday. Every time I complained about somebody calling me a Nigger, I was told to ignore them; if it is not true do not let it get to you; sorry about what happened to your ancestors, but just because I am white does not mean I owe you anything and finally the KKK has the right to hold rallies and march down the street, because they have the same rights and freedoms as you the 2 strongest being freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

I do not take the Holocaust lightly, but I do see it on the same level of all acts of genocide throughout history, no greater or less. I fight for the rights of all people to live free and in peace and exist, not just the one, or one more than the other. I think the word Holocaust needs to be removed from all language, or made to mean any and all genocide of any people and in so doing remove for all time the impression that some lives are more valuable than others and that some people should be protected more than others and that we owe some an apology, but not others. Maybe then we will not have angry, annoyed people ranting and raving on the radio and talk show hosts saying what they believe to be true and the Jewish community crying anti-Semitism every time someone voices their disapproval over Israel’s war actions and being told what they can and not say in public about Jewish people.

What is wrong with this picture when taking about freedom of speech in Canada? The talk show host says that, “I wouldn’t dare say something like that.” Later he said, “You know that in this democratic country, you can’t ever say anything offensive toward Israelis because it could cost you dearly. You can’t ever have negative views of any nature toward the Jewish people, or there will be serious consequences. That’s how it is.” A few minutes later, Fabi said that one must “wear white gloves when talking about this nice Jewish population of Montreal.” According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., he also said, “If you asked me if the Jewish population can sometimes be annoying, I would say yes.” Now he appears to have a point considering this got him suspended after a call from was placed to his bosses at the radio station from the B’nai Brith and we are once again debating the difference between freedom of speech and hate talk. What he said sounded like his opinion to me and was maybe not what the Jewish community wanted to hear, but I do not feel it falls in the hate talk definition either.

To make matters worse in my opinion, Slimovitch is asking for Fabi to apologize on air formally, saying “There’s no place for comments like that on a radio station. These are unacceptable comments and they beg a formal apology on the air’, but then says that the B’nai Brith has asked CBC not to post the full interview, because it would further publicize anti-Semitic comments. What is up Canada?

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

I had never thought to think that what happened to those little Indian children was genocide, but here it is and there is no public outcry; hell they barely got Prime Minister Harper to apologize and even then he tried to deny them a voice in their own ceremony.

Imagine being separated from your parents and stripped of every thing that matters to you; your religion, your customs and even your name. Babies as young as 5 years were relocated miles away from their families and homes and force to learn the ways of the white man and act like a Christian white person. Parents were forced to travel great distances to visit with their children and some even took to camping outside of the gates of these schools to be near them and no one saw the wrong in this. Every Indian adult had to sign over the guardianship of their children before they entered one of these residential schools or be thrown in jail. This in effect gave the head of the school the right to do as they saw fit with their children.

I found it interesting to that this was done in accordance with the bible and the teaching of

God. Most of these schools were run and managed by the Catholic Church, but the Anglican Church and the United Church of Canada all took part in the attempted extermination of these people. They were following according to them Gods will. Below I have given you the verses in the bible by which all three of the above mentioned churches, the government of Canada and big business justified there trying to wipe out the total population of indigenous people of Canada

They are taken from the old testament of the bible Deuteronomy 7: 1-2, 5-6

Deuteronomy 7: 1-2, 5-6 When the Lord God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and drives out before you many nations and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.

Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not allow any of them to live.

This is what you are to do to them: break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their trees and burn them in the fire.

For you are a people chosen of the Lord over all others on the face of the earth..

The brutality and the thoroughness of the extermination were equal to that of what the Jews suffered at the hands of Hitler. Canada’s Indian act designed to make the Indians wards of the country reduced them to little more than children, or mentally challenged adults. In the middle of the night young children were yanked from their mother’s laps by the RCMP and put in gun boats and taken away to residential schools. Once there they were experimented on like in the concentration camps; they were often sterilized in an attempt to cull the native population; they were beaten, raped and murdered. They were given electric shock treatment and forced to have abortions just to name a few and so much more.

Children with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases were forced to play with those who were not sick and they were forced to share beds instead of the sick being quarantine. When the children got sick the school simply refused them medical treatment and they died and no one could prove that it was not just a tragic incident, but really murder. Of all the Indian children forced to go to these residential schools it is known that at least 50%died of one thing or another in the 1st year. That is a staggering amount of children and the government and the churches say they had no idea it was happening. Does this not sound like Germany after the war?

By the time the over 100 of these schools were being used the Canadian Indian population had already dropped dangerously close to extinction level, because of another culling operation going on at the time. Small pox was a deadly killer to the Indian and the church and the Canadian government knew it. Missionaries would bring small pox contaminated blankets as gifts to the Indians taken from hospitals and anywhere else where there was and out break of small pox and within 10 days of receiving them the village would be dead. Everyone would say poor Indians succumbed to a tragic end. Whole village is dead because of small pox epidemic would be the official reporting of the incident.

Here is a part of an article I found in the Intertribal Times “For it was the residential “schools” that constituted the death camps of the Canadian Holocaust, and within their walls nearly one-half of all aboriginal children sent there by law died, or disappeared, according to the government’s own statistics.

These 50,000 victims have vanished, as have their corpses – “like they never existed”, according to one survivor. But they did exist. They were innocent children, and they were killed by beatings and torture and after being deliberately exposed to tuberculosis and other diseases by paid employees of the churches and government, according to a “Final Solution” master plan devised by the Department of Indian Affairs and the Catholic and Protestant churches.

With such official consent for manslaughter emanating from Ottawa, the churches responsible for annihilating natives on the ground felt emboldened and protected enough to declare full-scale war on non-Christian native peoples through the 20th century.

The casualties of that war were not only the 50,000 dead children of the residential schools, but the survivors, whose social condition today has been described by United Nations human rights groups as that of “a colonized people barely on the edge of survival, with all the trappings of a third-world society”. (November 12, 1999)”

The person who was responsible up to now for keeping this in the news and on the front page has done so at great sacrifice to his personal as well as professional life. When he tried to convince his church and the government of Canada, the business that profited by the genocide, to rectify the wrong that they had done they turned his life into a nightmare and then took away all that he loved. His name is Kevin D. Annett and he used to be a Reverend with The United Church of Canada, before they defrocked him for getting too involved in Indian affairs. Ask about him the next time you are in church. I think every Christian and every Canadian owes it to themselves and to these people to find out the truth and do something about it.

Please, if you are a member of any of these churches ask your minister, your priest to explain what happened. Ask them why little Indian boys and girls were sterilized by their doctors ( doctors of the church) in these schools. Ask them why their / your church participated in the tragedies you will see and hear about in this video and why a church would seek to cover these things up.

If you do not go to church ask your Member of Parliament why this happened and why is it not being fixed? Why do they keep acting like they are sorry, but they were only trying to do the right thing and educate the natives? I do not think that these actions can be forgotten or healed with a few million bucks, but we must admit that we were no better than the Nazi’s ; acknowledge publicly the extent to which we harmed these people. Only then will the sore begin to heal; only then can we be sure that we will never be tempted to do this again.

I have the video for you to watch and it is very sad and long. The stories will break your heart.

Question and food for thought:

When these people have had enough and resort to violence to get what they cannot out of years peaceful talks and broken peace treaties and broken promises will we call them traitors and terrorists? We as a nation have said sorry in words, but as usual our actions say quite a different thing and our treatment of these people still remains shameful at best. Each province could do more, the country as a whole could do more, but we sit comfortable in our self-proclaimed superiority choosing to ignore the plight of children with no proper homes, not enough to eat and a people with often with not even a pot to pee in.

I am a seeker of answers and a sharer of knowledge. I am fascinated and almost totally preoccupied with the where and whys of Canada. The mixing of our cultures and our political views; our political figures and the decisions they make. I love learning about the history of Canada and passing it on. Our history, like all countries is filled with things we can be proud of and things that we are rightfully ashamed of, but they are what we were and are what helped shape who we are today, for better or for worse. The proud things make the paper and the shameful things that get swept under the rug, or buried in the 100th page of the news paper still affect our country the same. I am the person who will dig them out and bring them to you; I will try to put at your finger tips supporting links, videos and pictures. I am passionate in the stories I tell, because I care. I am like a quacking duck; I make a noise that is hard to ignore.

The things that I write about were happening as I grew up and are still happening now all over Canada as I write . I remember my friends and I talking as children and them saying to me whenever we heard stories about the struggle for equal rights in the United States, ” The united States should be ashamed of itself for the way it treats its negroes. Lucky we are in Canada, there is no prejudice here.” I now know different of course, but the prejudice was difficult to recognize, back then. It was not something Canadians were proud of so it got swept under the rug, buried in the back of the paper, and certainly never talked about in public.

The word prejudice is a word that no one wants attached to them, but the actions and things that this word embodies and the consequences that are seen as a direct result of them are far worse than the label. I wish to change the way people think about prejudice; it is not a Black verses White thing only. It is an English verses French thing; A Catholic verses Protestant thing a Muslim verses Christian thing and it is who we have become.

Together I hope we will visit communities, cultures and historical differences and see what we can do to expose that which is buried and bring into the light that which has been cloaked in darkness. Perhaps taking a good look in the mirror will spark a desire for real change in not the other person, but in ourselves and the way we view others different then ourselves and thus bring about real peace, understanding and tolerance for all people, all religions and all cultures. I will try to cover the current events as they unfold in Quebec and the other provinces , but it is in Quebec that I live so it is only natural that I will be drawn to its many problems and delights. Let us take a walk and see what Quebec and the other provinces are about when it comes to equality and quality of life for their citizens and let us see where we as a people and Canada as a country are heading in terms of rights and freedoms for all people both at home and abroad. Finally let us explore together if there is any future in us remaining a country when every province can leave the country if it so choses and threatens to do so every time it does not get its way. I think country’s political make up is like building your house’s foundation in quicksand and waiting for it to sink, or being afraid to make a move in case you cause it to sink, but let us take a look anyway shall we?